A fall polar vortex? Cool September on the horizon

Tuesday

Aug 12, 2014 at 7:00 AM

By Jim.Hayden@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4274

Tony Reidsma said it with an icy cold stare: “I hate winter.”Instead of being snowed under by the power of the polar vortex, however, the Park Township man coped with last winter’s ice and cold by heading outside and taking more than 10,000 pictures, many of which are now on display on a website and could soon be on exhibit.The images of the lakeshore at sunrise or sunset, of the record ice on Lake Michigan, could be a reminder of what’s ahead in the weather as well.“The vortex could slip at times, maybe even briefly in September for the Northeast,” said Paul Pastelok, AccuWeather meteorologist. “There could be a significant shot of chilly air that comes across the Great Lakes region and into the interior Northeast sometime in mid- to late-September.”The polar vortex is a large pocket of very cold air that sits over the polar region. Pieces of the frigid air can break loose and drop into the Great Lakes region. This brought record cold in January and below-average highs in July to the Holland area.As conditions in northern Canada begin to set up similar to last fall, getting colder and unsettled quickly, it is likely this pattern could become a source for colder air to make its way down at times into the United States.“Temperatures will not be as extreme in November when compared to last year, but October could be an extreme month,” Pastelok said.Last October was a month divided in Holland, with above-average temperatures the first half of the month then below-average for the second half, ending with a record rainfall and strong winds on Oct. 31 that knocked out power to more than 1,000 people.November 2013 had cooler temperatures and more than 7 inches of snow — the average snowfall for November in Holland is 2.3 inches. Lake effect snow contributed to almost 70 crashes in Ottawa County and forced the closure of I-196 later in the month. Wind and lake effect snow greeted Black Friday shoppers across West Michigan and continued throughout March.For Reidsma, December was when the urge to start taking pictures hit the 44-year-old husband and father of two teenagers.“In order to cope with the cold, I grabbed my camera,” he said.The self-taught photographer spent four days a week, often at sunrise and sunset, capturing the colors, lighting and texture on the ice and snow.During one sunrise he captured over Lake Macatawa, Reidsma could hear the ice cracking and the sound echoing off nearby homes as the morning’s rays warmed the water surface.“I had about five minutes to capture that image,” he said. “After that, the ice was gone.”Another panoramic of a Lake Macatawa sunrise is made up of 18 separate images assembled for a sweeping look over the icy landscape.Reidsma travels the globe as part of his Holland-based business Stream Communications LLC, a company specializing in brand positioning and media development.His ice images could be on display at a local gallery soon and are now available at streamllc.com/ice.Despite getting frostbite on four fingers last winter, Reidsma is ready to take on this coming season with his camera, though this winter is shaping up to be less extreme than its predecessor.The National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center has West Michigan in the above average temperature range for January, February and March 2015 and below average for precipitation in the first three months of the new year.— Follow Jim Hayden on Twitter@SentinelJim.